Chapter 15

Iendedupsleeping through half of the next day. It had been a long week. When the edge of the bed dipped and I registered the soft afternoon sunlight behind my eyelids, I decided it was probably time to drag my butt out of bed. I really didn"t want to leave my warm, cozy nest, though. The real world was such a pain in the ass these days.

I missed my nice, boring life in the human world. Back when I could just pretend that I didn"t have a single ounce of magic in my blood. Back when the Lovell mansion was just a creepy place to go to every once in a while, to get something to pawn for rent money.

The thought had me opening my eyes despite my desire to stay in bed. Shit. Rent. My roommate back in the Planus realm was probably back to thinking I"d been kidnapped or murdered. And rent would be due again soon if I wanted to continue to have a place to live.

But did I want to continue to live there? Shit. Who knew how long it was going to take for me to get the remaining two creatures free of the bestiary? I had saved the hardest for last. And even then, once they were free, what was I going to do with all the displaced magical creatures I was accumulating? Part of me said they weren"t my responsibility. But another part said I couldn"t just leave them to fend for themselves, not when it was my family"s fault they were now lost and adrift after decades—or in some cases centuries—of slavery.

I sat up and rubbed a hand over my face, all the warm, cozy feelings fleeing in the face of about a million worried thoughts. I froze when I saw who was in my room. Zhong was perched on the edge of my bed, half turned toward me with a fancy silver serving tray in his big hands. He gave me a shy smile and held out his offering, arranging it over my lap as I sat up against the headboard.

"Good afternoon, master," he said in his deep, gravelly voice. "Niamh said we should check on you because of your human illness. She said you might need to eat?"

I glanced down at the tray of finger sandwiches, fruit, and juice, my spiraling thoughts coming to a standstill. "My human illness…oh. The diabetes. Right." I sighed. "I"m fine. My pump alarms would be going off if anything crazy was going on with my blood sugars." I unclipped my pump from my waistband and held it up to show him. Everything was fine.

He rubbed the back of his neck, and his gray cheeks took on a faint pink tone. "Oh. Sorry. I didn"t know." His earnest yellow eyes met mine and he rushed to reassure me. "I know I"m behind the times because of being trapped in the book, but I"m trying to learn. I"ve been reading the books you gave me. And Niamh showed me how to use your laptop. She said that was okay?"

I smiled at him, forcing back a laugh at the thought of the slightly less tech impaired fae hunter teaching the completely tech impaired gargoyle to use the somewhat old-school witch web to learn about Mageia realm pop culture. The smile faded pretty fast though, when I realized they wouldn"t find much about my medical condition or my insulin pump on the web here in the magical realm. There weren"t many humans in Mageia, and the magical creature population didn"t much care about things like human illnesses and human medical technology. The few humans who did live in this realm were usually well-kept by a magic user beneficiary—either as workers, or occasionally as lovers. Any illness they might have was usually either mitigated by magic while they were here, or they were taken over to the human realm for ordinary medical care. My case was different, since I was a witch and the medical condition in question was the result of a curse and all.

"Tell me what you"ve been learning," I said to the gargoyle, trying to find something to be happy about. Zhong"s thirst for knowledge was cool. Even if I knew it was motivated in large part by his belief that he needed to be useful.

He turned toward me a little more, pulling up one big, trouser-clad leg. At some point, we were all going to need to go shopping. We were quickly running out of old clothes we found around the mansion and altered with magic to fit my ever-growing list of guests. Guests who seemed hell-bent on becoming permanent members of my non-existent household.

The gargoyle was smiling so happily though, I couldn"t really be that mad about it. "I"ve memorized the basic spell ingredients and their properties, like you suggested. I also learned a little more about the Alliance. Um…we all thought it was a good idea to brush up on any changes to their laws, since we"ve been out of the loop so long. After yesterday"s encounter, we felt it was better to be prepared."

I arched my brows at him. "We?"

He shrugged one massive shoulder, then flexed and resettled his wings. "Me and the others. The fae, the ghost, and the jinn." He frowned. "I guess the water weaver too. But it"s hard to tell how much they"re actually listening to anything. It"s like they"re only half here, you know?"

I sighed. There was so much to unpack in all of that. "It"s not a bad idea, learning more about their rules and crap. I"m sure they"re not about to let it go, now that they realize I"ve got all these magical non-witches living under my roof." I ate a finger sandwich, then made myself spit out the question that was bugging me the most. "Aahil helped? Or at least, participated in some way? That"s a new one."

Zhong let out a long, tired sigh. "Yes, master. Uh…Andy. He was his usual charming self. But, as much as I hate it, I believe he is concerned about your safety, just like the rest of us."

I let out a short laugh. Yeah, right. I"m sure that"s what it was. Not just a need to protect his prized possession. My brain chose that moment to show me a vivid memory of the jinn"s molten gold eyes and the intensity in them as he fucked my mouth while I knelt before him in the workroom.

Shit. I really was a Lovell. Truly beyond fucked up.

I pointed at the tray to indicate my leftover sandwiches as I entered the carbs I had eaten into my insulin pump. "Hungry? There"s way more than I can eat here."

The gargoyle smiled and stole a sandwich, popping the whole thing into his mouth in one small bite. Yeesh.

"How is the weaver?" I asked, already feeling tired at the thought of having one more crazy weirdo kicking around. One more person that I felt responsible for.

Zhong shook his head. "No idea. He…they? They don"t talk. They just float around touching things and looking off into space. It"s unsettling." He snorted. "But at least they aren"t loud, or violent, or wildly unpredictable. They haven"t ruined anything yet."

I huffed. Yeah. Aahil was a little shit. Zhong hadn"t even seen the half of the jinn"s fiery tantrums, but he already seemed tired.

"I don"t think he can really help it," I said as I set the tray aside and swung my legs over the side of the bed. "Aahil, I mean. He"s been abused. I won"t say it was worse than what the rest of you experienced. It"s not some sick competition. But…I think he was captive the longest, and I think…." I sighed heavily, looking down at my hands. "I know they abused him, Zhong. The witches in my family did terrible things to him. They used him for more than just his power." I gave the gargoyle a wry look. "But on top of all that, he has fire magic coursing through him. It"s an unpredictable energy, one with a lot of potential to get out of hand. I think unstable is just part of who he is. The same way your energies are so solid and steady because you have the affinity for the energies of stone and earth."

The gargoyle studied my face for a long time before he spoke. Finally, he reached out a big hand and cupped my cheek. "You are so understanding, Andy," he said quietly. "And I can"t say that"s a fault, since you"ve been so good to me and the others because of it. But…please be careful." He ran a thumb over my cheekbone, his yellow eyes searching mine. "Don"t give your heart to the jinn. He"ll burn it to ash and not feel an ounce of remorse. I don"t think you can save everyone, mast—Andy. Even though I know that"s what you want."

My chest hurt. Yeah, objectively I knew Zhong was probably right. But I also suspected that it was a little too late to save me from myself. I might not love the jinn—goddess, no—but I found myself caring for him, wanting to help him through the darkness he was currently stumbling around in. I should try to rein it in, though. At least attempt to be smarter.

"Is it your job to protect my heart now, too?" I asked the gargoyle with a teasing voice, reaching up to grasp his wrist and give it a squeeze.

He licked his lips, blushing again, but determined. "Perhaps." Then his hand slid back to cup the back of my head and tug me a bit closer.

I tilted my face up and met his kiss, opening up to his slow, soft exploration. My hand dropped to his leg, and I slid my palm upward over his solid thigh, squeezing gently, admiring the swell of hard muscle beneath the thin fabric of his pants.

I huffed a laugh against his lips when Zhong effortlessly lifted me up and pulled me onto his lap. One big arm banded around my back to hold me in place, while the other stroked the outside of my thigh in slow, soothing motions. I kissed him again, drinking him in. There was heat between us, but not the all-consuming, rushed passion I had experienced with the others. There was no pressure, no expectation for anything more than this—just gentle caresses and deep, slow kisses. It was nice.

But I had to force myself to pull away eventually. "I have stuff to do," I said between short pecks on his wide mouth. "But I am definitely on board for more of this later." I met his eyes, conscious of our positions and the way the gargoyle seemed to have latched onto my supposed witchy authority. "That"s not an order, or an expectation, or a condition though. You get that, right? Like, if you say no, I"m not going to punish you or throw you out or something. You"re your own person now."

He smiled softly against my forehead before pressing a lingering kiss there. "I understand."

"Well. Good," I said awkwardly, clambering off his lap as I started blushing. "Just so we"re clear. And…um…it doesn"t bother you to share?"

His expression was unreadable as his glowing yellow eyes met mine, his wings flaring a bit before he flattened them against his back again. "No. I"m not bothered by your desire for the others."

Except the jinn. No one had to voice that one out loud. Zhong"s reservations where Aahil was concerned were crystal clear. But even then, he wouldn"t stop me from doing something stupid. Which, let"s face it, was absolutely in the stars for me. I was who I was.

"Okay. Cool," I muttered. I turned around to go to the dresser and dig out some clothes. Goddess, I wasn"t good at this sweet stuff. And it had been a while since my last threesome. Well…before the bestiary came into my life. Whatever. I was just all around awkward when it came to relationships. And…crap…was this "relationships," or just sex? Fuck it all, I was going to have to talk about it with them, wasn"t I?

But for now, I had important distractions—uh, things to do. I nodded to Zhong and hurried off to the bathroom to shower. I wasn"t hiding. You were hiding. Shut up.